“I fancy you, Kale.” I don’t know what made me shorten his name but he didn’t seem to mind.

He slid his lips to my ear again. “Do ye, now?”

I bit my bottom lip to hold back a giant smile, and murmured, “Yeah.” We were flirting!

A new song started. Techno again. McKale began moving first, and it was my turn to match him. Cassidy and Rock pushed their way closer beside us, and together the four of us danced. Cass found my hand and squeezed it.

It was a night to trump all others: Cassidy’s best idea ever. The guys made us laugh the entire time. Especially Rock with his exaggerated dancing as he tried to imitate how other men at the club moved.

This night was more than a simple act of rebellion born of boredom. It was even more than getting away from the portal. It was about getting McKale to see me—really see me, and to see the possibility of what we could have together. I wanted us to have something worth fighting for.

Cassidy must have recognized the wheels of thought churning in my expression because she shook her head at me and bumped my hip.

“Not tonight, Robyn,” she shouted in my ear. “Just dance!”

Yes, I thought, finding McKale behind me once again. Tonight we dance.

THE SUN WAS PREPARING to rise when we got back to the village and glided the car into its original spot. I’d woken the others to help me. I guess Cassidy and Rock got tired of being yelled at to quit making lip-smacking noises in the backseat, and they’d fallen asleep halfway home.

Knowing dawn would break at any moment, we made our way to the bungalows. My hand tingled, remembering how McKale held it the whole way home except the few times I needed both hands on the wheel. The memory of how he’d kissed me on the dance floor, then watched me while I drove had me sighing with contentment as my brilliant sister and I slipped into the room and collapsed onto our beds.

Falling asleep would be a bad idea. Even though today was not a workday for the Shoe House, I still needed to get up and care for the animals this morning. I allowed myself a few minutes of remembrance before I trudged out of bed to change.

“What’re you doing?” Cassidy mumbled. I thought she’d be asleep already.

“I’m gonna do my morning chores early and then I’ll come back and go to bed. We can’t sleep too long though ‘cause Mom and Dad will get suspicious.”

She grunted, falling asleep before I made it out the door.

The sky was brightening and birds were chirping as I walked up the worn path. Weariness overtook me and I couldn’t wait to get back to the room and sleep. At the corner of the fence, I picked up my basket and the small bucket used to scoop meal from the barrel. Something moved by the hen house and I looked up, heart accelerating.

McKale was leaning there with his arms crossed, waiting for me. My body reacted to the sight, heating and buzzing. I got my act together, gathering my things and moving toward him.

“Hey,” I said, feeling shy and self-conscious about the potato-sack apron that covered my shorts and t-shirt. “Is everything okay?”

He stared at me warmly for a minute without replying, and then he ran a hand through his red locks.

“Aye, all is well. I needed to see ye once more before I took to bed.”

“Oh,” I breathed. His voice sounded different. More confident and serious. The heat that began when I saw him now completely took over my body. Unlike when we’d first met, he didn’t try to avert his eyes from me. He was openly drinking me in with an inquisitive newness, unperturbed by my less-than-attractive clothing ensemble in the morning light. I set my basket on the thick fencepost.

We moved forward at the same time, not stopping until we were kissing again, his hands wrapping around my waist to pull me close while my fingers found his hair. It was just as passionate as our kiss on the dance floor, only this time we could hear one another’s shortened breaths and satisfying little sounds. A low moan rose up from his throat. Knowing I caused that pleasure from deep inside him gave me a strange taste of power.

A sudden snap from the path startled me and I pushed away from him. He kept a hand on my waist, protectively.

“’Tis alright,” he whispered.

Leilah and Rachelle stood at the opening of the path in their aprons and bonnets with baskets in their hands and astounded looks on their faces. McKale lifted a hand to them in greeting. The girls simultaneously broke into giggles and turned, running down the path away from us. I let out a laugh and McKale grinned.

“I’d best leave ye to yer work. Unless, er, perhaps ye’d like a hand since I frightened away the help?”

I smiled at his offer. I appreciated that he was willing to jeopardize his man card to help me, but I was perfectly capable of doing it on my own.

“It won’t take me long, McKale,” I told him. “You go get some sleep. I’ll see you this afternoon, right?”

He pulled me to him again and laid his lips gently against mine.

“I fancied it when ye called me Kale.”

A shiver slid down my back and I sighed. Who was this guy? Was this who’d been hiding under that shell all along? Because I liked him. A lot. He made me feel like a new and improved version of myself.

“Another date today, aye?” he said against my lips. “The two of us.”

“Okay,” I whispered. One more cute grin, and then he was walking away, down the path, standing taller than I’d ever seen him. I couldn’t bring myself to move until every trace of red hair disappeared into the village.